# Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa)

> Steeplebush, Spiraea tomentosa: a shrub of 2 to 5 feet for zones 3 to 8, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/steeplebush/

![Steeplebush plants with upright spikes of faded pink flowers among tall grasses, a pine bough at right](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/steeplebush-1000.jpg?v=f564abe4 "Steeplebush in the wild at the end of its bloom, its pink spires turning to fruit. It blooms from July to September, opening from the top of the spike down.")
*Photo: Gilles Ayotte, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASpiraea_tomentosa_15-p.bot-spira.tome-9.jpg))*

Shrub, 2 to 5 feet, zones 3 to 8; full sun or part shade; average or wet ground.

We do not grow steeplebush, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Steeplebush |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Hardhack, hardbark spiraea, staple bush |
| Form | Shrub |
| Height, feet | 2 to 5 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 5 |
| Zones | 3 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Showy flowers, wildlife value, hedge or screen |
| Flowers | July to September |
| Fruit | Follicles, September to November |
| Pollination | Not known whether one bears alone |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Stream banks, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 29 states |

Steeplebush is native in 29 states: [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) and [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=steeplebush&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=steeplebush): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the seed sowing planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its height](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores by the champion-tree formula](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=steeplebush): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Bebb's Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bebb-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix bebbiana*): shrub, 10 to 25 feet, zones 3 to 7. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Missouri River Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/missouri-river-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix eriocephala*): shrub, 6 to 20 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Winterberry Holly](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/winterberry/index.html.md) (*Ilex verticillata*): shrub, 6 to 12 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Black Elderberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-elderberry/index.html.md) (*Sambucus canadensis*): shrub, 6 to 12 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares stream banks, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Nannyberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nannyberry/index.html.md) (*Viburnum lentago*): shrub, 12 to 18 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares stream banks, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Sheep Laurel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sheep-laurel/index.html.md) (*Kalmia angustifolia*): shrub, 1 to 5 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Every companion of steeplebush in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=steeplebush)

## Read from

Its figures come from NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database and the Flora of North America.